Babblings of the Southwest

Daily Archives: 1/4/2011

New Year’s Eve 2010 found Sean and myself with one of our great friends, Geof, at a bar in Huntsville called The Nook. This bar prides itself on serving only craft brews and I must admit they do a fine job of it. As we sat there enjoying some tasty libations we pondered some of our favorite beers that we’ve had the chance to sample over the past year. Here’s a run down of our top five.

World Wide Stout
Brewery: Dogfish Head
I don’t even know where to start with this beer other than, Wow! The World Wide Stout is one of those beers that long after you’ve tasted it, the flavors still stick around for you to fondly remember. The nose makes me think of raisins and ports. The taste has roasty chocolate notes with lots of flavors of dried fruit. It’s a complex beer that’s great to share with other friends (at 18% it’s not one that’s easy to get through on your own) and sip as an after dinner drink (or really any time you want to enjoy a great beer).
ABV: 18.0

Older Viscousity
Brewery: Port Brewing Company
The nose on this reminded us of a blend between a whiskey and a port. Once you taste it, though, that’s all forgotten. There are strong coffee and dried cherry notes. The bitter and fruity notes balanced each other out well. The finish is smooth and lingering going back to the way that a good whiskey sits on the tongue. This is a good one to curl up on a cold winter’s night and sip away with.
ABV: 12.5

Cuvee of the Emperor Blue
Brewery: Brouwerij Het Anker
We had the pleasure of trying this one as part of our New Year’s Eve festivities this year. The beer has the wonderful sweet nose of a Belgian strong ale. The taste, though, we felt was lighter than the typical strong ale. There were wonderful spicy brown sugar notes that lingered on the tongue. It was a very easy beer to drink and enjoy. Sadly, this one is a hard one to get hold of, so if you find it, definitely give it a shot.
ABV: 11.0

Espresso Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
Brewery: Great Divide Brewing Company
How can anything that combines coffee and beer not be fantastic?! At least that’s how we feel. The Espresso Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial Stout (yes, it really is a bit of a mouthful) immediately hits the drinker with coffee and oak notes on the nose. As it’s consumed we got the expected imperial stout notes along with nice chocolate notes. The finish is almost like you just finished drinking a cup of coffee. It’s a pretty powerful combination, but amazingly easy to drink. Best part is a recommended food pairing for the beer is a breakfast burrito. Can’t argue with that.
ABV: 9.5

Theobroma
Brewery: Dogfish Head
This one comes with a disclaimer. We had a taste of Theobroma in previous years, but this review is for the draft version. Yes, that’s right. If you’re super lucky, you can find this one on tap. We lucked out at our local Whole Foods Market where there’s a wine and beer tasting bar. The beer has a very clear appearance with a light floral and honey nose. The taste was lighter than the bottled version but still had the wonderful honey and cocoa notes that we love about this beer. The finish isn’t long, but is definitely very refreshing and pleasant. We’re looking forward to hopefully seeing this one on tap again in the future.
ABV: 9.0